Pluck a perfect pumpkin
<p>First grader Aubrey Segalla, 7, from Spokane Valley Christian School picks out a pumpkin at the Prairie Home Farm during a school field trip on Wednesday afternoon. Prairie Home Farm is open to the public for the month of October on Wednesdays and Saturdays.</p>
<p>First and second graders from Spokane Valley Christian School start on their walk around the Prairie Home Farm on Wednesday afternoon. The Prairie Home Farm is a five acre farm in Coeur d’Alene that grows over thirty species of squash and pumpkins each season.</p>
<p>From left: Blair Stach, 7, Danie Hisel, 7, and Brandon Olson, 7, from Spokane Valley Christian School eat a snack by the pig pen during a class field trip to visit the Prairie Home Farm in Coeur d’Alene. The Prairie Home Farm is home to goats, horses, pigs, mules, geese, chickens, mules and a turkey for kids to feed.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Several first- and second-graders excitedly scurried through the pumpkin patch, hugging yellow, orange and green spheres close to their chests.
"I like this one," "This one's giant," "Wow, look at this one," they clamored as they examined and adopted the perfect pumpkins.
"What's cool about mine is I really like seeds, and this is as big of a dish for mine and that's what I really like about it," said Valley Christian School second-grader Robert Lasko, 7. "It looked orange, it looked like it was the right size and the right one."
About 30 youngsters explored Prairie Home Farm on Wednesday afternoon, enjoying the first day of the field trip and pumpkin-picking season.
The 1920s, 5-acre farm is owned and operated by Linda and David Swenson of Coeur d'Alene. The property has a large barn, a shed adorned in vintage appliances and gardening/farming knickknacks, and consists of 3 acres of pasture and 2 acres chock-full of farm animals, autumnal decorations, antiques and fresh produce.
The Swensons grow and sell broom corn bunches, sage bunches, straw bales and more than 30 species of pumpkin and squash. They also invite families to have a country harvest adventure on their farm.
"What a beautiful hidden gem that this is," said Sandra Coultrap of Hayden. Coultrap was a parent volunteer on the Valley Christian School field trip, accompanying her 6-year-old grandson, Chase Sturgis.
"With the animals, the sweetness of it, clothes on the clothesline," Coultrap said. "(Linda)'s been very, very creative on how she has set it all up. It's very, very nice."
Visitors to Prairie Home Farm will find 12 farm animals, ranging from chickens and geese to pygmy goats, social cats and friendly equines. Those who tour the farm can purchase bags of animal feed so they can make some new friends.
"I really like it, and I like feeding the pigs and the geese and watching them peck and stuff," said second-grader Daniel Hisel, 7. "They're just really funny."
The Swensons have been providing a local pumpkin patch and produce stand for the public's enjoyment for 10 years.
"When we bought the place, it came with two geese, Romeo and Juliet," Linda said, smiling. "That kind of started it. I mean, I've always been kind of a hippie, so I knew there'd be chickens, but I didn't realize there'd be all this."
Linda has experience as a master gardener and can explain the details about the variety of pumpkins she grows. She is like a florist in a flower shop, appreciating the different colors, textures and physical attributes of each specimen.
"What's cool is pumpkins have a male and female blossom on each plant," she said. "They do not cross-pollinate, so I could plant all these heirlooms together and they will not cross-pollinate and make a morphed, weird thing. You'll still get a pink porcelain doll right next to a Jarrahdale. Other things aren't like that at all. But if you harvested one of these pumpkins and took the seeds from them, God knows what you'd get, because they don't produce this cross-pollination the first year, but next year you'll see a variety."
Prairie Home Farm, located at 7790 N. Atlas Road, is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Wednesday and Saturday in October. Other days are available for special events such as tours and birthday parties in the barn. A storytelling event in the barn usually takes place the second-to-last Saturday of the month.
Info: www.prairiehomefarm.com or 762-3289.